Manager/Senior Manager, New Product Development – Discovery (Gateway Services)

About SATS Ltd.

SATS Ltd., headquartered in Singapore, is a major provider of air cargo and ground handling solutions, as well as the leading airline caterer in Asia. With operations spanning the Asia-Pacific, Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, SATS connects global trade and travel routes, covering a vast network after acquiring Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in 2023. The combined entity now covers over 215 stations in 27 countries and has been publicly listed since 2000.

Culture and Career Growth

SATS places strong emphasis on valuing its employees, fostering career and personal development, and offering fulfilling opportunities. The company embraces diversity and continuous learning, cultivating a workplace where each person feels valued and motivated to contribute in meaningful ways.

Overview of New Product Development – Gateway Services

This expanding team is focused on driving global new product development by discovering, validating, and commercializing growth opportunities throughout the SATS network. The group partners closely with Commercial, Operations, Technology, and Finance to innovate and bring new service offerings to market, positioning SATS to strengthen its long-term competitiveness. The NPD team is intentionally lean, comprised of senior, execution-oriented members, and leverages AI-enabled workflows to enhance research, decision-making, and operational efficiency.

Role Summary

This position leads efforts in discovering and validating new product and service opportunities for Gateway Services. You will spot customer needs, identify market opportunities, and translate these insights into practical concepts through rapid pilots and commercial evaluation. The role involves close collaboration with commercial and operational teams across ground and cargo handling, and moves opportunities from early exploration through pilot validation, before handing over scalable initiatives to commercialisation leaders. The environment suits commercially driven product leaders with advanced logistics knowledge who can excel amid ambiguity and enterprise-level transformation.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop a holistic understanding of operational challenges, customer requirements, and emerging trends in the cargo, logistics, and related service sectors.
• Directly interact with customers and stakeholders to surface unfulfilled needs and identify new potential service areas.
• Maintain an up-to-date portfolio of new ideas, using structured assessment and prioritization practices.
• Apply AI-based tools to streamline market research, competitive analysis, and benchmarking activities.
• Seek out and assess opportunities for co-funding, grants, or partnerships to support pilot projects and minimize initial investment needs.
• Convert customer and market insights into actionable, testable hypotheses for new services.
• Lead execution of proofs-of-concept and pilots, establishing measurable criteria for operational and commercial success.
• Rapidly refine and adjust prototypes based on stakeholder feedback and learnings, following a test-and-learn "fail fast" principle to efficiently allocate resources.
• Document findings and prepare validated products for transition to commercialization and scaling teams.
• Engage with cross-functional teams throughout the validation process, identify operational risks early, and ensure seamless handover of successful pilots.
• Participate in industry forums, workshops, and internal initiatives to build thought leadership and innovation capability at SATS.

Key Requirements

• More than 10 years of progressive experience in product development, customer engagement, logistics operations, cargo management, freight forwarding, e-commerce logistics, or similar disciplines.
• A strong background in designing and running pilots and new service introductions.
• Comprehensive understanding of operational workflows in cargo, ground handling, and logistics environments.
• Demonstrated commitment to continuous development, including participation in industry events, training, and professional certification.
• Experience working collaboratively within complex, cross-functional organizations.
• Excellent discovery, analytical, and commercial evaluation skills; able to structure ambiguous challenges effectively.
• Advanced stakeholder engagement and communication skills.
• Practical proficiency in AI-based tools with a willingness to integrate AI into daily operations.
• Resilience and a growth-oriented mindset for navigating dynamic or uncertain business contexts.